Rising Above
by blueluigi
Summary: In Dreamland, a black-colored Waddle Dee lives tortured every day by the people of her city because of her differences. Will nothing ever change for her, or will she rise above with help from unexpected places?
1. Chapter 1

I saw the morning light filtering through my one dirty window as I opened my eyes. Just another morning in Dreamland, just another morning where nothing would change. I would go out and try my hardest to have fun like anyone else, but it was hard when everyone else already decided that they didn't like me. They all just _had_ to make fun of me. I would have liked it better if they just decided to shun me. _"Maybe I'll just stay inside today. Maybe I'll stay inside forever."_ I thought to myself. No one would care. I was going to close my eyes again, but I was shocked out of bed by some kind of excitement outside. The noise made sleep impossible, so I cautiously cracked open my door to peek outside. The sight greatly surprised me. What was going on? It seemed like everyone was heading toward King Dedede's castle, not too far away. Someone in the mob tripped over my feet, bringing both of us down. Already several feet from my house, I decided to keep going. The whole crowd, a mass of orange-red, was moving quickly, so I stood up to avoid being stepped on. We raced through the maze of dirt roads lined with huts made of soil, where everyone in that area lived. Soon enough, we arrived at the castle. It was impossible to see, considering everyone in front of me. My curiosity overpowered my fear, and I took a risk and nudged someone next to me. I just hoped that they wouldn't say something mean, like usual. "Hey, what's going on up there?"

"The king made Meta Knight mad, and they're having a fight." Thank goodness he didn't seem to notice who he was talking to. After all, I was Shadow, the odd Waddle Dee girl out. The dark one, the black colored one. But I stopped my thoughts in their tracks. Who was this Meta Knight? Usually, my shyness would prevent me from going anywhere, but uncharacteristically, I felt like I needed to know. I shoved a path to the front. There, not three lengths of a house in front of me were two people, a penguin and someone…surprisingly cute? The penguin was obviously the less-than-smart King Dedede, but was the other one Meta Knight? How come I'd never heard of him before? He was wearing a mask which only revealed two blazing yellow eyes and a blue cape on his back. I couldn't help but stare as he talked to the king, not like I could hear anyway. Time didn't seem to matter, but before I even knew it, everyone started to move again from their fixed positions. Confused conversations played out all around me. What happened? What about the fight? The crowd swirled around me as I just stood there, my mind still in a dream-like state. A sharp push on my left side brought me back to reality though. There was another push on my back, this one more powerful, that sent me to the ground. The impact created a cloud of dust, which got into my eyes. I forced myself up before I was stepped on and pushed my way through the mob until I reached the far side of it. A stone lamp post sat not far from me, so I took the opportunity to lean on it, grateful for the rest after the rushed experience. I needed to get my head together. Staring at the dirt on the ground, I supported myself with one arm. The hot summer sun shone down on me like the glare of an angry mother. Tired from what could have easily turned into a fight for my life, I was only faintly aware of the footsteps coming my way. The crowd had cleared out, leaving the stranger and me in almost perfect silence. Only the light breeze disturbed it. I looked up, breathing softly, to find myself staring into a pair of blazing yellow eyes.


	2. Sky

After the short walk home, I flopped down onto my bed, defeated. "I can't believe it! We just stood there and _stared _at each other! I should have said something!" I yelled at myself out loud. I needed to clear my head. _"Breathe in, breathe out. Slowly," _I told myself, but couldn't do it. Not even thinking, I got up and looked around the circular room. It was dark, and refreshingly cool on the hot day. I got up and walked out the door, not even sure where I was going. I just needed to get out. I was going crazy, thinking too many things at once. Feeling so many things was making my head hurt. I was confused about why Meta Knight would seek me out, sad that I would probably never see him again, angry that I didn't say a word, and happy for I don't even know why. I knew that I turned right from my house, but yet I didn't know exactly where I was considering that I was staring at the ground. My feet were making little impressions in the dirt, and I was so absorbed in them that I didn't even notice the squeal of a girl riding a bike coming straight at me. As I looked up I saw her turn quickly, only to crash on the side of the road. The basket full of food from the nearby grocery store spilled out everywhere. "I'm so sorry!" I yelled automatically and dove down to help pick up. She did the same, bumping heads with me.

"Ouch!" she whispered. We both looked up. When I saw her, I blinked to make sure it wasn't in my head. She was a light _blue_ Waddle Dee. I saw her blink as well. "You…you're like me!"

"Name's Shadow," I actually smiled, "what's yours?" I knew from the start that she would be my friend. She could actually relate to me.

"I'm Sky. I…I like your color." I could tell that it was a difficult subject for her too.

"Thanks." By that time, we had picked up all the food and put it back in the bike's basket. "Do you want to come to my house?" It was a big offer. I never had anyone over in my dirty little house. Not that anyone would want to be around me anyway. Different colored Waddle Dees were untouchable.

"Of course! No one's ever been so nice to me before." So Sky was like me. Rejected from society. Together, we walked back to my house. I threw open the door with the peeling white paint and stepped inside, letting her follow. She left her bike outside.

"Here it is. Not much to show, but it's home." Sky peered around the dusty room as we both sat down on the floor. It was the middle of the day, but the house was reasonably dark since the filthy window didn't allow much light to pass through. "So, tell me about yourself."

"Well, I was born blue, live two streets from here, and mostly hang out with myself."

"Me too. Don't you hate it?" I wanted to go deeper; I needed to find someone who felt like me.

"No, actually. The way I see it, everyone else is just missing out by not talking to me. They'll never find out what kind of a person I really am."

"But, don't you just want to be normal sometimes?"

"Not at all! I love myself, color and all. Do you have a mirror?" A mirror? It hit me then that I hadn't looked in a mirror for a long, long time. The thought was disgusting. I would just have to look at my awful color, the very thing that everyone saw when they turned away from me. They saw the color. They had no idea who I really was. I was no different from them. But, I wanted to make Sky happy, so I crawled across the floor to a large cardboard box in the corner. It was filled with things that I hadn't touched in forever, mainly things that I never wished to see again. Just as I had thought, when I opened the box and the resulting puff of dust cleared from the air, I saw the mirror face down on the top. Using great care, I lifted the simple piece of glass and carried it back to my original place. Sky immediately took it and flipped it over. The way she used her arm to wipe the dust away and stared at her reflection so peacefully made me really and truly believe in the words she said next. "Every day in the morning, right as I get out of bed, I take a good, hard look in my mirror. I take a look and every single time, no matter what I feel like, and no matter what people have said in the past, I let it all go and say to myself, "I am beautiful."" Her softly sweet voice shook as she said it, like she was telling some kind of sad but powerful story. But it was all so true! I stared down at the mirror next to me and looked at myself next to Sky. Her light blue body and white face seemed to glow next to my pure black body and grey face. But even so, I couldn't help but think to myself, _"I am beautiful."_


	3. Invitation

The time passed quickly with a new friend next to me. It felt so nice to finally have someone to talk to, someone who understood. Sky had also given me a completely different view of the color issue, choosing to embrace it rather than avoid it and hate it forever like me. We were laughing over the time when Sky literally ran into King Dedede himself on a walk and made him trip when the daily mail came under the door. The only letters I ever got were "important notices from the king" as the front of the fancy, and strangely flower-printed, envelopes always said, and that one was no different. "Looks like another letter from the king. Wonder what it is this time, a notice about something at the grocery store?" We burst out laughing again as I walked over to retrieve the familiar off-white envelope. It was well known that the king loved anything concerning food. I mindlessly tore open the letter, expecting to find a short couple of poorly written sentences promising a free autograph to anyone who would buy 47 packages of cheese puffs, or something like that at least. It was fair to say that I was moderately shocked when a similarly flower-printed piece of neatly folded paper fluttered out and fell to the floor. The words "You are Invited" stood out clean and clear at the top of the page. I scooped it up quickly and brought it to my eyes, thinking it was too good to be true. No one had invited me to anything in my life. But as I read down the page, I discovered that the invitation was 100% real. I read it out loud to Sky, who was looking very confused at my excitement. "You, along with all other residents of Dreamland, are invited to King Dedede's personal party. It will be held at the castle, one week from today. Hope to see you there, and bring your invitations! Signed, King Dedede."

"A _party_? This is amazing!" she squealed, looking up at me in my standing position. She actually stood up right next to me and skimmed over the short paragraph, doing an excited little dance to match her mood. "I've been to a few big parties before. They were more of Dedede's gatherings, but I'm pretty sure only the people who marked "like cheese" on his yearly survey got invited."

"Well I've never been invited to anything. What do I need to know?" I asked, my mind filled with questions.

"Ummm…I guess I know one thing for sure, and that's that you need nice clothes. I didn't know that before, but I'll never make that mistake again!" We both laughed and sat down.

"Nice clothes?" My mind wandered back to any time when I would have needed nice clothes. I remembered nothing.

"Like…you should probably wear a dress or something! I get the feeling it's going to be that kind of a party." Oh no. I was absolutely positive that I didn't own a dress.

"But, I don't think I have a dress," I said, concerned.

"Hmmm…" Sky paused for a moment, just staring at me. "I could make you one!"

"Really?"

"Of course! A dark grey one, to match your face and eyes. Complete with sparkle, definitely!" she gazed up and across the room, imagining the possibilities. "Back at home, sewing was my job. You would look amazing!" I would look amazing? That was a new concept. I tried to picture it in my head.

"Me in a flowing, sparkling grey dress. I can see it now!" I closed my eyes, and actually did. I had to admit that I was getting sort of excited. The dream would become a reality. "But, one thing." My visions stopped as I thought of the question. "What do you do at a party?

"That depends. Seeing that the king is usually pretty upbeat when he's not trying to destroy that one guy, oh what's his name?"

"Kirby?" I'd heard of him before.

"Yeah that's it! Anyway, so I expect that everyone will be dressed up, since it's a royal event, but things will be kind of casual. Mainly, everyone will just socialize with friends, but then someone will start dancing crazy and get everyone going. _That _is when it gets intense, and that is when you will need me."

"Ummm…but you're my only friend! And what exactly do you mean?"

"I mean, that's when things change. That's when _people _change. And when that magical changing comes around, you'll need my advice to keep it cool and keep your head in it." Sky waved an arm in the air as she talked about the _"people"._ She went on, still seeing my confused look. "You see, parties are social events, and my parents did _not_ intend for me to become a social outcast, so they took the time to train me in the social arts." I did not see that in Sky. But it sure did make her friendship more valuable to me. "You're going to meet people at the party, whether you like it or not. And you're going to find out that not everyone hates you, as you seem to think. You and your color will only attract attention, which is a good thing, don't worry."

"Ok. If you say so," I sighed, unsure. "Tell me everything."


End file.
